Chip Lindsey on Michigan freshman QB Bryce Underwood: 'The guy is as humble and driven as I’ve seen'

Michigan Wolverines football is heading into 2025 spring practices with a quarterback competition. Graduate Mikey Keene, freshman Bryce Underwood and sophomore Jadyn Davis are all on the roster, plus graduate Davis Warren, the starter last season, is recovering from an ACL injury suffered in the Dec. 31 win over Alabama.

There are quarterbacks with different levels of experience and familiarity with the system. Keene, for instance, played for new Michigan offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Chip Lindsey at UCF in 2022, before transferring to Fresno State (2023-24) and now U-M. Underwood is the No. 1 overall recruit in the 2025 class, a five-star+ prospect, and Davis, a high four-star in 2024, is entering his second season after playing one snap a year ago.

“I think you approach them the same,” Lindsey said on the ‘In The Trenches’ podcast with host Jon Jansen. “We’re gonna coach them all the same. Expectations are the same. And the way we go about it … you think about those three guys, they’re all a little different from where they are in their career and so forth, but they’re all similar in that they want to be really good. And they want to push each other and they want to compete.”

Lindsey has been pleased with what he’s seen from the two younger players in the room — Underwood and Davis. Underwood enrolled early in January and will go through spring practices. He was with the team in the lead up to the bowl game, as well.

“Bryce, getting to know him has been unbelievable,” the Michigan coordinator noted. “The guy is as humble and driven as I’ve seen. People from the outside may not see that or know that, because of the hype that goes with it.

“But Jadyn Davis was a five-star recruit, as well. I think the people from outside don’t see them every day in the film room, grinding on their own, in meetings, taking notes. They approach their craft really seriously, and they want to be good and be the best they can be.

“And that’s what you want. You want a room full of guys that are eager. Davis Warren is the same way. He’s coming off an injury, but he’s the same way. Those guys want to be perfect, and I think that’s what’s exciting.”

Lindsey has Michigan in on some big name prospects in the 2026 class and beyond, including five-star Ryder Lyons out of Folsom (Calif.) High. He wants to continue to build the quarterback room with players similar to the ones who are there now.

“That’s what we have to do in that quarterback room moving forward is get guys — not that we haven’t before, because I wasn’t here — but my goal is to have a room full of guys that are just eager, that want to learn, that are ready to go and get back to lineage we had when you guys were playing,” the Michigan coach said.

Chip Lindsey on recruiting at Michigan: ‘It’s a national brand’

Lindsey hit the recruiting trail over the winter, traveling the country. He was received extremely well all over, noting that Michigan has a national footprint.

“The block ‘M’ really gets you in a lot of good places, and it excites people when you walk in and ask about their players,” Lindsey said in his conversation with Jansen, a former U-M All-American in the late 1990s. “It’s a national brand, obviously, and I think that’s a huge benefit for us.

“Wherever we’re going … for me, going to see quarterbacks all over the country, people are very intrigued. They know our history. You look on my wall on my office, and we were counting yesterday, seven or eight guys in a row during that time frame were all NFL quarterbacks. And then J.J. McCarthy, obviously, being a first-round pick recently [in 2024].

“It’s exciting. Our brand is huge. It really stretches all the way across the country, and even going back down South, where I’m from, those guys are excited, going through there in January. That’s where you want to be. You want to be at a place that’s special. You want to be at a place that’s respected. Our tradition and history here — it’s the winningest program in college football. What else do you say about that?

“People that love football and love college football, they all remember. And I grew up watching — my memories are seeing Michigan play in the Rose Bowl and all those things. I never imagined being here, and just really fortunate.”